http://mmajunkie.com Famed heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko made short work of 7-foot-2, 360-pound Hong Man Choi — even if he didn’t do much to help his dwindling reputation as the world’s top fighter.

The Russian, the former longtime PRIDE Fighting Championships heavyweight champion, headlined the New Year’s Eve “Yarennoka!” event at the Saitama Super Arena near Tokyo. The event aired live on HDNet and was dubbed “HDNet Fights: Fedor Returns” for the North American audience.

Despite the distinct size disadvantage, Emelianenko scored a first-round arm-bar submission at 1:54 of the first round. Although his takedown attempts were unsuccessful — Choi simply stuffed the shots and collapsed on top of his opponent — Emelianenko used brute strength to secure the submission attempt. He ate some punches and suffered some swelling from the shots, but Emelianenko was never in serious trouble with his two-fight-veteran opponent.

The victory pushes Emelianenko’s record to 27-1. Choi falls to 1-1.

One fighter who didn’t leave the event unscathed was Gilbert Melendez, the current Strikeforce lightweight champion who had recently found himself ranked among the 155-pound division’s top 10. Melendez couldn’t escape the many takedowns attempts of Mitsuhiro Ishida and ultimately suffered a unanimous-decision loss.

It was Melendez’s first loss in 14 fights over a five-year professional career. The victory pushes Ishida’s record to 16-3-1; it was his 10th win in his past 11 fights.

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